Departmental Official Hospitality

Jeremy Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much was spent by his Department  (a) on drink,  (b) on food and  (c) overall in relation to the departmental function held on 23 June 2009; and if he will list the people invited by his Department.

Gerry Sutcliffe: holding answer 2 July 2009
	The Department spent £243.25 on drinks and £600.00 on food (the overall cost was £1,251.25 which includes catering staff, equipment hire and delivery) for the function held on 23 June 2009. The people invited were journalists covering DCMS sectors.

Met Office: Cost Effectiveness

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether officials of his Department have met officials from the Shareholder Executive to discuss opportunities for private sector partners to develop specific services to complement those of the Met Office.

Kevan Jones: The Operational Efficiency Programme (OEP) Met Office Review Group is compromised of officials from the Ministry of Defence, Shareholder Executive, HM Treasury and the Met Office and meets regularly in undertaking the review.
	This group is responsible for taking forward all aspects of the Met Office review as set out in the OEP Final Report published in April 2009. While exploring all options and opportunities, initial discussions began regarding opportunities for engaging with private sector partners. However, this aspect of the work is at an early stage, and more detailed work on this topic will be taking place over the coming months. A further update on progress of the review will be provided with the pre-Budget report.

Carbon Sequestration

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to his statement on 23 April 2009,  Official Report, columns 382-84, on coal carbon capture and storage, what assessment he has made of the effect on his Department's carbon capture and storage (CCS) competition of the additional CCS demonstration projects.

David Kidney: The proposals announced on 23 April 2009 are intended to complement the current CCS demonstration competition and therefore the competition will proceed as set out in the Budget statement.

Sizewell A Power Station

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what information his Department holds on (a) the causes of the coolant leak at Sizewell A discovered on 7 June 2007 and  (b) when it is understood the leak occurred.

David Kidney: The Department is not aware of a coolant leak which occurred at Sizewell A on 7 June 2007. It is assumed the question refers to the Sizewell A pond leakage event which was identified on 7 January 2007.
	The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) lead on the investigation in this case and they have informed my Department that the cause of the leak was a vertical longitudinal split in a section of 8 inch diameter plastic pipe in the cooling pond recirculation system. The alarm was raised at 11:30 hours on Sunday 7 January 2007. HSE's initial assessment is that due to the nature of the split in the pipe the breach is most likely to have happened suddenly and only a short time (no more than a few hours) before the alarm was raised.

Sizewell A Power Station

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether the Government has received any requests for additional resources from  (a) the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate and  (b) the Environment Agency as a result of the discovery of a coolant leak at Sizewell A on 7 June 2007.

Joan Ruddock: I assume that the hon. Member is referring to the coolant leak at Sizewell A on 7 January 2007 as I am not aware of a coolant leak at the site on 7 June 2007.
	Neither the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate nor the Environment Agency made a request to Government for additional resource as a result of the Sizewell A coolant leak event of 7 January 2007.

Domestic Waste: Waste Disposal

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Meriden of 19 May 2009,  Official Report, columns 1279-82W, on domestic waste: waste disposal, what records the Waste and Resources Action Programme holds on the frequency of the collection of household residual waste in each of the new unitary councils.

Dan Norris: The Waste and Resources Action Programme's (WRAP) records on the frequency of collection arrangements have not been updated since the local government reorganisation in April 2009. However, WRAP'S understanding is that these arrangements are still continuing exactly as they did before the local government reorganisation took place.

Members: Correspondence

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality pursuant to the answer to Lord Ouseley of 18 May 2009,  Official Report,  House of Lords, column WA252, on Equality and Human Rights Commission, if she will place in the Library a copy of the results of the Commission's staff survey.

Michael Jabez Foster: A copy of the Equality and Human Rights Commission staff survey results has been placed in the Library of the House on their behalf.

Managing Diversity

Francis Maude: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office with reference to the answer of 16 December 2008,  Official Report, columns 643-44W, on National School of Government, which public sector organisations sent representatives to the course held in Sunningdale Park in 2008.

Tessa Jowell: This is a matter for the National School of Government. I have asked the principal and chief executive to reply.
	 Letter from Rod Clark, dated July 2009:
	In the Written Ministerial Statement to the House on 9 January 2007 (Official Report Col 5WS), the then Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office (Pat McFadden MP) announced that the National School of Government was now a Non Ministerial Department. Consequently, the Minster for the Cabinet Office has asked me to reply to your Parliamentary Question about the National School of Government.
	The National School of Government's Managing Diversity five-day programme is for HR Practitioners and Diversity Officers from any organisation from all sectors. The 2008 course included one official from the following public authorities:
	Channel 4;
	University of Lincoln;
	Charity Commission;
	HM Prison Service;
	Victoria and Albert Museum;
	Suffolk Constabulary;
	Ministry of Justice; and
	two from the Department for Work and Pensions.

Local Employment Partnership Awards 2009

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 5 May 2009,  Official Report, column 123W, on local employment partnerships, what the final cost was of the Local Employment Partnership Awards 2009; and how much  (a) each of the 11 local award ceremonies and  (b) the grand final cost.

Jim Knight: The Local Employment Partnerships (LEPs) Awards 2009 are an integral part of our strategy to support the delivery of LEPs across Great Britain. We want more employers to work through LEPs so that unemployed people have a better chance to get back to work.
	The Awards have been established to highlight the major benefits that LEP participation has brought to employers and partners and to celebrate the success of individual employees who have found sustainable work through the programme.
	An overall budget of £663,000 was allocated to support this work and we have delivered the events under budget due to cost savings negotiated with suppliers. Final figures for the cost of each event are listed in the following table:
	
		
			  Cost breakdown for the 12 country/regional and national awards 
			  LEP awards  Event costs (£) 
			 Scotland Award 55,481.13 
			 North East Award 51,757.25 
			 North West Award 53,970.56 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber Award 55,048.47 
			 Wales Award 53,480.66 
			 West Midlands Award 58,039.11 
			 East Midlands Award 50,878.04 
			 East of England Award 52,016.32 
			 South East Award 55,249.40 
			 London Award 54,988.52 
			 South West Award 51,465.55 
			 National Award 39,441.82 
			 Total costs 631,816.83

Probation: Wales

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average caseload for a probation officer working in Wales was on 31 December  (a) 1997,  (b) 2001 and  (c) 2007.

Maria Eagle: The average case load for a probation officer working in Wales on 31 December 2007 was 28 cases.
	Information on the average case load for 2001 and 1997 is not available for an all Wales perspective. Some of this information is no longer held, and would have been disposed of in accordance with the six-year retention limit specified by the Data Protection Act.
	As follows is a table of the information that is available.
	
		
			   1997  2001  2007 
			 North Wales — 25 39 
			 South Wales — 23 38 
			 Dyfed-Powys 31 15 23 
			 Gwent — — 27 
			 Average — — 28

Israel: Imports

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs with reference to the answer of 15 September 2008,  Official Report, column 2126W, on imports: Israel, for what reasons the Government is not seeking a prohibition on the importation of goods from illegal Israeli settlements other than under the Preferential Trade Agreement.

Ivan Lewis: The Government believe that the best way forward is to seek ways to offer consumers better advice on whether goods have been produced in illegal Israeli settlements. The Cabinet Office recently hosted a small roundtable meeting with representatives from food retailers and trading organisations. They discussed the draft of new, voluntary guidance on origin labelling of produce from the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is currently considering the next step of public consultation.

Members: Correspondence

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for West Chelmsford of 6 April 2009 on his constituent, Ms Daphne Green of Chelmsford; and what the reason is for the time taken to reply.

Chris Bryant: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 2 July 2009,  Official Report, column 386W. The reason for the delay in replying was the need to obtain legal advice for the response.

Valuation Office

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 27 April 2009,  Official Report, column 1049W, on Valuation Office Agency, if he will place in the Library a copy of the minutes of each meeting of the project board overseeing the installation of a geographic information system.

Stephen Timms: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Robert Neill) on 30 June 2009,  Official Report, column 210W.

Valuation Office: Contracts

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Peterborough of 11 May 2009,  Official Report, column 542W, on the Valuation Office: ICT, for what purposes the Valuation Office Agency's Sprint contract was entered into; and what the terms are of that contract.

Stephen Timms: Sprint is a framework agreement contract awarded in 2005 by HMRC to Specialist Computer Centres plc. (SCC) and Dataserv CES Ltd. for the supply of information technology, telecommunications and audio visual and related supplies and services. The agency is a participating authority to that contract.

Valuation: Housing

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer to Baroness Warsi of 12 May 2009,  Official Report, House of Lords, column 192WA, on housing: valuations, what factors are taken into account by the Valuation Office Agency when deciding whether to allocate a dwelling with a NA (Quality - atypical for Group or Type) value significant code.

Stephen Timms: The value significant code NA may be used where the quality of the property is considered to be significantly better or worse than properties of a similar style or type, to the extent that this will affect the value of the property. The Valuation Office Agency does not provide specific guidance to its staff on when to use the code—it is a matter of local knowledge and judgment. Guidance on the use of all its dwelling-house codes is published on the VOA's website at:
	www.voa.gov.uk/publications/dwellinghousecodingguide/files/contents.htm

Teaching Methods

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the Statement of 30 June 2009,  Official Report, columns 165-80, on 21st century schools, what criteria he plans to use to identify children who are behind at the end of their primary school education who are to be offered additional tuition at the start of their secondary education; what arrangements will be made for allocating funding to meet expenditure on such tuition; and whether the tuition offered will be in hours outside those provided for the teaching of the secondary school curriculum.

Diana Johnson: Every pupil who leaves primary school at the end of the summer term 2010 without reaching the expected National Curriculum level 4 in either English or mathematics will be guaranteed extra support when they start secondary school through one-to-one or small group catch-up tuition in year 7. Local authorities will be responsible for allocating funding to their secondary schools to support any year 7 pupils who need one-to-one tuition. If pupils are identified for small group tuition or other catch-up support, money has already been included within school budgets up to 2011 to support personalised learning.
	It is up to schools to decide when and how to offer the catch-up tuition. The new secondary curriculum which we began implementing from September last year gives schools more scope to provide catch-up support during the school day if they judge this the most appropriate option for their pupils.

Council Housing

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 30 June 2009,  Official Report, columns 7-10WS, on housing, on what date he plans to publish his Department's consultation document on the reform of the council housing finance system; and when he expects the consultation exercise to be completed.

Ian Austin: My right hon. Friend the Minister for Housing (John Healey) intends to publish the consultation document before the summer recess. The consultation period will be for a minimum of 12 weeks in accordance with the Government's Code of Practice on Consultation.

Housing: Construction

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the number of  (a) local authority and  (b) housing association properties which will be (i) started and (ii) completed before May 2010;
	(2)  pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 30 June 2009,  Official Report, columns 7-10WS, on housing, what estimate he made of the cost of building each new  (a) local authority and  (b) housing association property in order to calculate the numbers of each type to be built.

Ian Austin: The national average total cost of building a new social home has been estimated at around £150,000. All grant funding provided as part of Building Britain's Future will be subject to competitive bidding and is expected to be considerably less than the total cost of providing a new home.
	The details of the number of homes to be started and completed, taking account of the additions announced in Building Britain's Future, will be published in the HCA corporate plan.

Non-domestic Rates

Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 8 June 2009,  Official Report, columns 754-55W, on non-domestic rates, what the amount of costs associated with implementing deferral of business rate payments is in Table C11 of the 2009 Financial Statement and Budget Report within the departmental expenditure limit for his Department.

Rosie Winterton: The net additional costs to local government as a whole associated with implementing the business rates deferral scheme will be fully funded in accordance with the Government's policy on new burdens. We have estimated those costs to be approximately £5.8 million. The costs will be found from the existing 2009-10 CLG Local Government Departmental Expenditure Limit of £25.6 billion, as set in Column 3 of Table C11.